Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

Home now | by Beake, Lesley

How can Sieta feel happy with so many sad pictures inside her head? She remembers her real home far away over the mountains, her parents getting sick, and Aunty taking her to live in a new place she calls Home Now. There Sieta meets another orphan with memories like her own.

Keywords: africa, animals, community, death, diseases, elephant, empathy, family, feelings, flowers, friendship, happiness, home, illness, memories, orphan, parents, sadness, stars, sympathy

Three names of me | by Cummings, Mary

Ada is a Chinese American girl. Ada shares her experiences of being adopted and moving to a new country. She collects new names that melt into one compelling identity for her.

Keywords: acceptance, adoption, airplane, american, author's note, body parts, chinese american, culture, differences, family, feelings, food, grandparents, happiness, identity, language, love, multicultural, orphan, parents, poverty, sleep, stars, transportation, travel, writing

The three robbers | by Ungerer, Tomi

Three robbers terrorize a countryside until they meet a young girl named Tiffany. After meeting the girl, they change their ways. The three robbers use their loot to build an orphanage where all of the lost, unhappy, and abandoned children can live.

Keywords: change, critical thinking, decision making, fear, feelings, giving, love, orphan, robbery, selfishness

Sky dogs | by Yolen, Jane

A young orphan boy lives with his tribe of Blackfeet Native Americans. He witnesses the introduction of horses and becomes good with them as his tribe is changed forever.

Keywords: animals, horse, loneliness, multicultural, native american, orphan

The secret of the stones | by San Souci, Robert D.

John and Clara work very hard all day, but they have no children to love. One night Clara finds two little white stones and brings them home with her. When they came home the next night all of the chores had been done, and John and Clara must find out who their helpers are and how to help them!

Keywords: african american, animals, author's note, bones, cabin, chicken, conflict resolution, cow, decision making, escape, farm, folktale, food, hard work, magic, multicultural, nutrition, orphan, poverty, rocks, song, stream, verbal communication

Saving sweetness | by Stanley, Diane//Karas, G. Brian

Sweetness is a small orphan girl who runs away from Mrs. Sump's orphanage. When the sheriff goes out to look for her, Sweetness saves his life with food and water. She also saves him by dropping a rock on mean Coyote Pete's head. The sheriff ends up adopting her and seven of her friends.

Keywords: adoption, affection, careers, conflict resolution, desert, feelings, food, friendship, helping, lost, missing, nutrition, orphan, rocks, verbal communication

The little princess | by Burnett, Frances Hodge

Young Sara is forced to attend Miss Minchin's select seminary for young girls in London when her father gets shipped off to war. Miss Minchin, the director of the seminary becomes a bit apprehensive about Sara's stay with them because her father said that she is to have the very best of everything. When a note arrives that says Sara's father died, things change for the worse. Poor Sara is forced to live the life of a slave. She eventually meets up with an Indian gentleman who helps her to gain her life back.

Keywords: adventures, aging, beverage, celebration, change, child care, conflict resolution, death, emotions, family, food, hard work, hindu, hunger, indian, learning, loss, love, mistake, multicultural, nonverbal communication, orphan, party, persistence, problem solving, relationship, resentment, school, sharing, slavery, sleep, storytelling, support, war

Bonjour, lonnie | by Ringgold, Faith

Lonnie is an orphan who learns his family heritage through the help of the Love Bird. He eventually finds his adoptive parents.

Keywords: adoption, african american, author's note, birds, culture, family, french, grandparents, Jewish, language, love, multicultural, orphan, parents, war

The puppy who wanted a boy | by Thayer, Jane

Petey, the puppy, wants to find a boy for Christmas, but he has a hard time because there is a shortage of boys without dogs. However, right before Christmas, he finds a boys orphanage who wants him.

Keywords: animals, assertiveness, christmas, decision making, dog, goal setting, holidays, orphan, pets, refusal skills

Oh, brother | by Yorinks, A.

Milton and Morris are orphaned twins. They try to agree and work to survive. A job as tailors brings them back to their parents whom they thought were dead.

Keywords: assertiveness, careers, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision making, discovery, family, nonverbal communication, orphan, parents, peer resistance, refusal skills, siblings, verbal communication

The magic paintbrush | by Muller, Robin

Nib is an orphan boy who dreams of being an artist. One day as a reward for a kind deed, Nib is given a magical paint set with a paint brush that brings things to life. Nib encounters a terrible king who uses Nib for his talent.

Keywords: art, assertiveness, careers, creativity, critical thinking, dreams, fantasy, greed, helping, imagination, orphan, royalty

Aunt minnie mcgranahan | by Prigger, Mary Skillings

Aunt Minnie McGranahan lives alone and has a very orderly life. She has a system for doing everything from cleaning to feeding her animals. One day, Minnie receives a telegram from across the country telling her that her nieces and nephews need someone to raise them and take care of them. Despite her neighbors' doubts that nine children could never fit into her perfectly ordered schedule, Minnie and the children work as a team and live together quite nicely.

Keywords: animals, car, cat, chicken, cleanliness, correspondence, cow, critical thinking, dancing, discipline, family, farm, food, garden, horse, music, nutrition, orphan, play, problem solving, responsibilities, rules, sequence, sewing, siblings, stress management, teamwork, train, transportation, travel

Jack, skinny bones, and the golden pancakes | by Helldorfer, M.C.

An orphan boy befriends Skinny Bones, the dog of a hot-tempered old lady named Granny Trick. Together the boy and the dog must not only out smart Granny, but even the devil himself!

Keywords: adventures, animals, assertiveness, author's note, baby, boat, bodies of water, bones, companion, conflict, conflict resolution, critical thinking, deception, decision making, desert, devils, dog, evil, folktale, food, hunger, nonverbal communication, orphan, peer resistance, pets, rain, river, running away, trick, verbal communication, weather, wind

A sweetheart for valentine | by Balian, Lorna

A town finds a baby girl that they decide to adopt. They name the baby Valentine. They think Valentine is a normal little girl, but she grows and grows into a giant. When she's older, no one wants to marry her until one day another giant wanders through town.

Keywords: adoption, assertiveness, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision making, family, giants, growing up, holidays, loneliness, orphan, peer resistance, self esteem, valentine's day, verbal communication, wedding

Journey home | by McKay, Lawrence

Mai is going along with her mom to Vietnam, where mom hopes to find her mother and father, who were separated during the Vietnam War. There Mia learns about where her mom came from and gains a new sense of identity and feeling of home.

Keywords: acceptance, airplane, beliefs, birthday, celebration, culture, divorce, family, foster care, identification, multicultural, orphan, religion, transportation, travel, vietnamese, war

Tarzan | by San Souci, Robert

Family is defined differently when Tarzan is raised by a group of apes. Tarzan grows into a curious being. Confused by what he knows and what he is finding out, his confusion builds to power as he rules the apes. Can he forget his past to pursue his future?

Keywords: acceptance, adoption, africa, aggression, anger, animals, ape, appearance, assertiveness, author's note, challenges, conflict resolution, dancing, death, determination, differences, exploration, family, fight, growing up, jungle, kidnapped, lion, loyalty, multicultural, orphan, reading, survival, writing

Little kit or the industrious flea circus girl | by McCully, Emily Arnold

In hopes of a better life, a young orphan girl disguises herself as a boy and goes to work for a cruel professor and his flea circus.

Keywords: careers, circus, critical thinking, english, flea, gender, insects, loneliness, multicultural, orphan, verbal communication

Browse Abstracts (17 total)